Chicky:
Our forum here is different in a significant way from other forums onliine, including gun forums.
Most forums are a place to get together and share interests, and often form a "core" group that posts a lot, where people get to know each other. Others participate less, maybe because they are interested in the board's theme but more narrowly than active folks. Many people just lurk, reading but not posting. You can see for yourself how many people are online here and deduce that a large number are lurkers, as is usually common on web forums.
However here, while we provide a place for getting together, discussing gun issues, sharing experiences, and we want people to be part of IFG's gun community and theme, we are here for a specific reason: We promote the right for law abiding citizens to own and use guns legally.
This has a political aspect, but we aren't about politics or political parties here. Politics are important for obtaining gun rights, especially in India where the number of gun owners is small. The rest of politics, like foreign policy or taxes or other such subjects are more appropriate in a different setting. Besides, we are not interested in the many political "sides" that exist. We want to bring together all who are willing to join us in our advocacy of gun rights.
Many people in India are opposed to gun ownership in all forms, and this is a common attitude everywhere in the world -- more so in India, less so in other places, but still there are those who oppose gun rights. We look to educate people about gun rights and also to advocate for them -- again, legally for law abiding citizens.
Now, you say that you weren't serious when you made comments about gun owners being insecure due to owning more than two guns. How was a person who read your comments to interpret what you said if they did own more than to guns (which the people posting in the thread clearly did) or wanted to own more than two guns?
I will point out that the issue of mental health is a very serious and important issue, especially when discussed in conjunction with guns. Please be aware that mental health has always been used as an issue for persecution: when someone doesn't think like the majority, it is often said that "they must be crazy" or some such thing. Meanwhile, governments use such grounds to justify calling people anti-social or religious sinners, which then becomes a cause for depriving people of liberty and rights.
I suggest that you peruse the posts on IFG right at the time the gun limit was reduced from three weapons to two. You can note people who had, for instance, a 22 rifle for plinking and a handgun for protection because they ran a business, and then inherited an heirloom from an ancestor. The reduction to two guns caused them to have to make a choice, but I cannot understand why such people would be called insecure, and could understand how they would not feel that your statement was complimentary.
Consider someone who was a collector, and had, say, several Browning 32 Auto Pocket Pistols and several different models of Walther PP/PPK 32 Autos -- Why? Because they liked to collect them. They may not even carry them because they are collectors, or they are not even shooters. Why would they be considered odd? People collect all sorts of stuff nowadays.I recently wanted to install an old fashioned mercury switch thermostat in my house, because I grew frustrated with the computer controlled battery powered thing I had. I found out that this wasn't inexpensive -- get this -- because there were people who collected old thermostats and drove up the prices!
The reasons why people do what they do are as varied as there are different personalities, cultures, and groups. Wouldn't there be a difference between folks in Punjab versus Kerala, for instance? There's no way that we can make a valid generalization as to why people do what they do. But saying something as if they were lacking sensibility, normal confidence, or some other such aspect for their choices seems extreme.
But back to IFG: This site is well-known and is known to advocate for gun rights. Abhijeet, our founder is also well-known as an advocate. All sorts of people read the posts on this site and some of them are not well-disposed toward legal gun rights for law abiding citizens. They will use every sort of twisted logic and seize upon every ridiculous line of reasoning as an excuse to deprive an ordinary citizen a reasonable right, as recognized by people like Gandhi.
Frederick Douglass, the former slave and and civil rights advocate in the USA, had it right when he said that the three aspects of freedom were for a citizen to have equal access to the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box. Contemplate this thought in light of who gets a gun license and who does not, and the need for IFG becomes obvious.
So, while reasonable discussion is allowed here, it is always permitted within the reason for IFG's and this forum's reason for existence. It would serve no purpose for IFG to tolerate people using this site as a platform for advancing their views that oppose IFG's purpose. IFG has always acted in keeping with this principle and moderated posts that are not in keeping with this principle.
You have pointed out that:
But being a resident Indian we naturally assume that more guns held means either one is a shooter or is concerned of his security.
I can agree with the validity of your observation -- this viewpoint is commonly held. But part of the reason that IFG exists is to educate and counter these assumptions, which like so many others, is simply not true. There are many reasons to own guns, to enjoy guns, to shoot guns in many different activities, and to simply like collecting them and looking at them.
I can recall showing an incredibly intelligent medical school student my RFI 2A. He did not, and does not to this day, like guns, but when he saw the Asoka stamped on the buttstock socket, his eyes lighted up and he became very interested. He suddenly appreciated the 2A as something that was much more than a kook, a person oeriented toward goonda behavior, or a person who was insecure would want. He saw it as a piece of history -- of Indian History -- and something which told a story of india's independence and struggle in a trying international relationship.
THAT's what we want to point out here, and why you don't see any illegal activity promoted here. That's why you see gun safety and gun knowledge encouraged here: we are telling India that there's no reason to question why your neighbor owns a gun or wants to own a gun. We are telling India that we gun owners are just like them, and that just like them and most law abiding folks, do not harbor twisted fantasies or violent tendencies. Rather, we have no more reason to engage in anti-social behavior than anyone else does, who does not wish to own a gun.
I appreciate, Chicky, your moderate and measured response. You may wonder why I responded to your post the way that I did, and why I took so much time to reply to your reply. It is because I do know that beside yourself, many others are reading the posts here, and it must be seen who we are and what we stand for -- both as a positive thing to invite reasonably people to join us, and as a negative thing to disarm incorrect assumptions and false arguments.
Just like we promote gun safety here, because incorrect handling of guns can lead to bad ends, we also want to make sure that our cause, gun rights, is always handled correctly, because false impressions and ideas have an unfortunate way of spreading and becoming "common wisdom," especially ideas based on false premises.
Everyone knows that the heavy object falls faster than a light one, right?
. I am starting this picture thread, so please do add to it, please. I will bite first. As you know mine are in USA - I will start with my Indian made Rifle, out of respect for my mother country.
